Don Gutteridge - Desperate Acts

Marc was not surprised at what he heard,having already worked out plausible scenarios for each of his“possibles.” Fullarton stated that he had left the club-meeting afew minutes after Dutton, glanced out the back window while puttingon his cloak, and saw Brodie accosting a stranger in the alley. Hedecided to intervene on behalf of his young friend, and ran downthe stairs. But by the time he had flung open the outside door andwheeled around into the shadows to enter the alley, what he nowheard, just a few yards away, brought him to a halt. Brodie wasaccusing the stranger of blackmailing him! For a moment hewas paralyzed – incredulous at what he was hearing and uncertain asto what he should do. If this were his blackmailer – andthis now seemed quite probable – then to intervene and help capturethe villain might expose the banker himself and the secret he wasdesperate to keep from his wife (one he was not even now preparedto divulge). On the other hand, helping to arrest the blackguardmight get the burden of extortion off both their backs. However,while he was trying to make up his mind, Brodie raised his rightarm and struck the blackmailer with his fist. The fellow reeledaway and slowly collapsed onto his back.

In shock at what he was witnessing (justminutes before, he and Brodie had been reading Shakespeare andenjoying themselves), Fullarton watched in silence as Brodie kneltdown and began to check for vital signs. Then, after an anxiousminute or so of indecision, his young friend had stood up, lookingdazed, picked up his hat, turned and fled. It was at this momentthat Fullarton claimed he decided to step into the alley andconfront the man who, he was sure now, had tormented his days andnights for almost two months and extorted several dozen pounds. Atthis point, however, he heard Crenshaw open the side door andscurry down towards Front Street. Crenshaw, as he had testified,must have seen Brodie hunched over the unconscious man, panicked,and run. If the man were badly hurt, Fullarton reasoned, Brodiecould be in serious trouble. But if he himself were now to step outinto the moonlit alley, it was likely that Sir Peregrine would spothim as he was leaving the meeting. Fullarton certainlydidn’t want further complications added to an already complicatedsituation. Seconds later, the baronet was indeed clattering downthe stairs. Had he been at the window in time to see Brodiefleeing? As it turned out, he had, but he too chose to scuttle awayto Front Street.

So Fullarton was at last alone with histormentor. He slipped into the alley and stood over Duggan just asthe fellow was beginning to stir. As Duggan teetered up onto hiselbows and opened his eyes, Fullarton remembered flinging a curseat him, but the blood was boiling in his brain, and he found ithard to think or breathe. Duggan recognized him instantly, swore anoath of his own, and then without warning grabbed a walking-sticklying next to him and swung it sharply against Fullarton’s leftshin. In a purely reflex action, Fullarton wrenched the weapon outof Duggan’s hand, and as the villain rolled away to avoid beinghit, Fullarton swung the walking-stick, knob-end first, and heardthe sickening “thuck” as it struck home. (Only later did he learnto his horror that he had used Brodie Langford’s easilydistinguished shillelagh.)

This bludgeoning was what Tobias Budge hadwitnessed on his second peek through the cellar-window. As Marc hadsurmised, Budge’s recollection of what he saw was accurateenough, but when he saw it had always been suspect. It musthave been closer to ten o’clock when he witnessed the actualclubbing because Sir Pergrine had already left and Brodie had fledthe scene. As well, Sir Peregrine had exaggerated his ownimportance by stretching out the time it took him to pack up hispapers and depart. He must have trailed Crenshaw by no more thantwo minutes. So it was Fullarton whom Budge had observed doing thedeed.

With the confession signed and notarized,Cobb was asked to take Fullarton over to the jail, wake up thewatch, and see that the wretched banker was incarcerated. As far asJames Thorpe was concerned, the case – tragic as it might be – wasnow closed. It was left to Marc to seek out Bernice Fullarton andbreak the news to her.

***

Brodie regained his freedom at ten-fifteen Mondaymorning. Horace Fullarton’s confession was presented to JusticePowell and the Crown’s prosecutor, and deemed to beincontrovertible (as it was uncoerced and consistent with the knownfacts). A charge of manslaughter would be laid against the banker,making the trial of Broderick Langford moot. Kingsley Thornton,swallowing his amazement, came over and shook hands with Marc.

“Welcome to the fraternity,” he said.

***

Robert Baldwin was elated, and doubly so. His goodfriend and legal protégé had somehow contrived to find “anotherway” of getting young Brodie acquitted (and nabbing yet anothermurderer in the process). Moreover, before Monday afternoon washalf over, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada passed theentire Union Bill, encumbered only by several harmless attachments,by a vote of forty-four to eleven. The merging of the two Canadasinto one dominion was now inevitable, and responsible governmentbecame a distinct possibility. To celebrate these achievements,Robert arranged for a late supper and an evening of music andentertainment at Baldwin House. As Dr. Baldwin had already planneda more formal political celebration out at Spadina, Robert was ableto invite a smaller and more intimate group of well-wishers to hisgathering: Clement Peachey and his wife, Francis and Mrs. Hincks,Marc and Beth, Horatio and Dora Cobb, Celia Langford and herheadmistress, Miss Tyson (a staunch Reformer), and, of course, theliberated hero and his companion, Diana Ramsay.

The food was tasty and the drink flowedfreely. A string trio played Handel, Mozart and Vivaldi, beforebreaking into an improvised jig. After which a flushed andexuberant Brodie stood on a hassock and, with his raven-hairedbeauty beside him, announced their engagement. Some time later,Mister Cobb was cheered to the echo when he donned a donkey’s head,waggled its ears and recited Robbie Burns’ “John Barleycorn,” hisdead father’s favourite poem. (The donkey’s head, alas, was allthat remained of the dismembered Shakespeare Club).

“It don’t take much fer a man to make an assof himself,” Dora was heard chuckling to Diana Ramsay near thepunch-bowl. “Girl, you don’t know what you’re lettin’ yerself infor.”

Marc and Beth had left before this and themore exotic performances that followed. Marc was exhausted: the upsand downs of the past week had left him emotionally drained. Hejust wanted to slip off home and tuck in beside his wife – withMaggie purring contentedly close by. Beth felt the same.

***

“So, while Cobb went off to fetch James Thorpe andWilf Sturges,” Marc was saying to Beth as they snuggled down underthe comforter, “I was left alone with Horace for over half an hour.He showed no resentment at the way he had been deceived andentrapped. And he sensed immediately that I was aware of hisinfidelity, and much more. But I assured him that no-one everneeded to know, if that’s what he wanted.”

“So he talked to you before he confessed tothe magistrate?”

“Yes. I think he was relieved to be caught.All along I’ve been convinced that his major concern was keepingBernice from finding out that he had been unfaithful. He told me hewas sure the news would kill her.”

“When did Duggan start threatenin’ him?” Bethsaid, more awake now than she had been an hour earlier.

“As early as September, soon after Dugganlearned of the adultery from his cousin. Fullarton had everythinghe valued in life to lose: his wife and his reputation as a loyalhusband, a trustworthy banker, and a proud usher at St. James. Hepaid up – every week. But by October, he told me, he had decided toconfront his tormentor. Twice he tried to do what Brodie did – liein wait for Duggan to pick up the parcel of banknotes. But bothtimes Duggan outfoxed him.”